Steve Dietrich will be embarking on his second season as general manager for the Buffalo Bandits after establishing a 21-year career in professional lacrosse that has included a Hall-of-Fame playing career and a recent resume of coaching and front office positions.

The former NLL goaltender was named to his current post with the team on July 19, 2012, taking over for Darris Kilgour.

Dietrich joined the Bandits after spending two seasons as assistant coach for the Toronto Rock. He also spent five seasons as general manager for the Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks of Major Series Lacrosse prior to coming to Buffalo.

As a player, Dietrich played 18 seasons in the NLL, with stops in Baltimore (1992), Detroit (1994), Rochester (1995-2001), Buffalo (2002-2007), Calgary (2008), Edmonton (2009) and Toronto (2009-2010). He won a league championship in 1997 with Rochester, and was named Championship Game Most Valuable Player in the 15-12 win over Buffalo.

In 2006 he won the League’s Most Valuable Player Award, becoming the first and still the only goaltender to ever win the award. He had one of the best statistical individual seasons for a goaltender in league history that year, posting a save percentage of .808 and a goals against average of 9.97, leading Buffalo to the Championship Game. Dietrich won the Goaltender of the Year Award in 2005 & 2006, the first goaltender to win the award in back to back seasons. He notched a career won-loss record of 60-47, while making 5,531 career saves and playing more than 8,300 minutes throughout his 18 seasons.